1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a special receptacle or package, and, more particularly, pertains to a surgical or therapeutic type of special receptacle or package.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are numerous reasons that persons, both hospitalized and non-hospitalized, are unable to evacuate or control the evacuation of their bladders. Examples include persons undergoing general anesthesia prior to surgery, nursing home residents who are suffering from dementia, and persons who have received lower spinal cord injuries.
Typically, these persons require the installation of an indwelling urinary catheter, usually a Foley catheter, into their bladder via their urethra. Current medical practice suggests the following method of insertion by properly trained medical personnel.
First, the necessary equipment is assembled. This may be performed by obtaining a pre-assembled kit (or kits) or by obtaining each of required components separately. Whatever the case, however, the required equipment is essentially as follows: a sterile towel, two sterile gloves, a pair of sterile forceps, three sterile swabs, a predetermined quantity of sterile antiseptic solution (usually iodine solution), a predetermined quantity of sterile lubricant, a sterile syringe, and a predetermined quantity of sterile water.
Second, a sterile field is established, usually with the sterile towel. The rest of the necessary equipment is then made ready or placed in the sterile field. There are several methods of completing this step, depending on whether or not the necessary equipment came in a pre-assembled kit (kits) or not.
Next, the gloved (both hands) inserter exposes the distal urethral ostia of the insertee by manipulating the external genitalia of the insertee with one hand, referred to as the left hand for the purposes of this discussion. The left hand is now considered non-sterile.
The inserter next picks up the forceps with the right hand and then grasps one of the swabs with the forceps. The swab is then dipped into the antiseptic solution and it is then used to cleanse the urethral ostia of the insertee. The first swab is then discarded away from the sterile field and the process is then repeated with the other two swabs. The forceps are then also discarded away from the sterile field by the inserter.
The still sterile right hand of the inserter is then used to grasp to catheter and to apply the lubricant to the proximal end of the catheter. The lubricated catheter is then advanced into the urethral ostia of the insertee until urine flows from the distal end of the catheter. The inserter may at this time remove the left hand from the external genitalia of the insertee. Both hands of the inserter may now be used to inflate the balloon tip of the catheter, to connect the distal end of the catheter to the proximal end of the drainage tube, and to clean up the residue of the procedure.
In summary, there are several disadvantages to the current methods and procedures for the insertion of indwelling urinary catheters. Considerable equipment is required and there may be considerable redundancy in packaging, depending upon the exact nature of the pre-assembled packages for individual or separate kit items utilized. Further, considerable attention to detail and time is required to properly perform the procedure.
The package for an urinary catheter of the present invention overcomes these deficiencies of the prior art and provides a unitary package that significantly improves the methods and procedures for the insertion of indwelling urinary catheters. This unitary package reduces and consolidates the amount of equipment required for the insertion of the urinary catheter. Thus, there is less cost due to elimination of redundancy in the packaging, a reduction in the complexity of the procedure, and a less time consuming and safer insertion procedure results therefrom.